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THE WARD
The Ward, or Dresden, is the headquarters of the corporation' scientific research and development. The top internalized industries and their employees make up the populace, and the corporation itself oversees any and all innovations made for the world, or for themselves. DRESDEN The city of Dresden was relatively destroyed by the end of the Second World War. Collapsed by endless fire-bombings conducted by the Allied powers to weaken the Reich's already diminishing industrial capabilities. By 1945, there was little remaining of the once-proud city, only a former shell of ruins and homeless citizenry that made do from the small buildings that still remained intact. Of course, by 1947, reconstruction had begun by the corporation, but not to the degree it had intended. It's first concept was to make Dresden, into a large barrack for it's security forces. Block after block would be lined with living quarters for troops, coupled with vehicle garages, mechanical shops, and small outlets for corporates to get their food and other necessities. However, due to the rising cries by civilians, upon hearing of the plan, to instead bring back their beloved city, a new doctrine was to be written, outlining an entirely new plan for Dresden itself. CONSTRUCTION The city began the first processes in 1948. With Western assistance, Wolfenchan ''began to reconstruct the city, sections at a time. The civilians would be set to live in camps, provided by the corporation on the outskirts, while the housing in Dresden itself would be refurbished to the current year's standards, with a provided compensation for facility upgrade as time would pass. Blocks would be finished within months, and portions of ''Dresdenburger ''would be volunteered to head back into the city, and restart their lives anew. The reception to their new "habitat" proved to be mixed; while some adored their new homes, and took heavily to calling it such, others were more reluctant, feeling as if they were being experimented on, as the quarters provided were a bit too modern for the time. A testimony given by a civilian at the time was recorded as this: ''"We entered our new housing on the fifth. Inside, it was a very peculiar sight. The furnishings were all quite simplistic, and the appliances seemed out of the era; almost like they had come from far in the future. The rooms were all adorned with simple paints, but the bedrooms seemed comfortable enough. Regardless, we thanked the corporation workers who had welcomed us in, and made ourselves at home." The reception had been mostly positive. By 1950, most of the original population had returned to their former homes, now rebuilt by courtesy of the corporation's efforts. The blocks had been renewed, and shone in a new, more modern light by 1951, the rubble almost entirely cleaned, and the shadow of war now absent. It is to also note, most of the historical landmarks of the city would not be scrapped, but rather repaired, and repainted to resemble their former colors of when they had first been constructed. The buildings, monuments, and bridges would be brought back into full function and appearance, as the corporation had no intent to remove the legacy of Dresden. INDUSTRY Of course, the intent for Dresden initially was never scrapped. The concept for turning the city itself into a large, scientific and industrial centre was still alive within the documents, and so, by 1955, half of the entire metropolis had been assigned to become a headquarters for development and innovation of the corporation. Construction commenced that very Spring, after the fifth of March. The first structures to rise were the crude factories, ones that would provide the civilian populace with work and a meaning of responsibility as new, corporate citizenry. They would produce simple products, ones that would be shipped out to the rest of corporate territory, and even the world. This had been Wolfenchan's original intent; to become a world trading power. By 1957, it became clear the corporation was on an increase in productivity. The completion of the industrial sectors had given the green-light for scientific facilities to begin their own rise. Corporate executives had begun contraction of multiple scientific minds to help them develop new machines and such for both the usage of the corporation itself, civilian and military-wise, and for export across the world. One of these would be the adaptation of earlier, German weapons, made during the years of the Third Reich. The first of these innovations had been the modernization of the Sturmgewehr, an assault rifle intended for the Wehrmacht ''during the war. Now, of course, came the ''StG-54, a superior firearm, and one that would be exported across the world, mainly to small, African countries for usage by their militaries, and likewise to the nations of Southeast Asia. SOVIET INTERRUPTION By 1958, Dresden had become the prime of the corporation's development, responsible for the churning out, and upgrading of the security forces, along with fitting the citizen populace with new methods of transportation, and convenience during labour with machinery. The Soviet Union, however, became somewhat jealous ''of this new, industrial powerhouse. It's capability was being rivaled, and, with Stalin's death some years earlier, a violent Khruschev set his sights to reduce the corporate grip on Europe to nothing more than a single finger. The Warsaw forces had been mobilised during that winter, addressed in Moscow, inspected, and given a staunch declaration of war as the threat of a third world conflict loomed once again. This time, of course, the proximity of Dresden to other nations such as Czechoslovakia and Poland, garnered a larger fear that the invading force would be twice as potent as that which ravaged the grain zones in the corporation's early years. The city of Dresden was no less than 10 kilometres from the border of Czechoslovakia, one of the satellite states that the Soviet Union occupied by default. The first forces to be dispatched would be those of the Czechoslovak People's Army, their 2nd and 3rd Armies, as the 1st was pre-occupied with the uprisings of the new, Danubian state to the south. The Polish People's Army would send it's own 1st and 2nd Armies to assist, and the Soviets themselves would send two mechanized brigades for support of the infantry. This operation had been dubbed, план: cаксонский (''Plan: Saxon), and would go into effect the following year. By 1959, the Warsaw Pact's forces were prepared. Their sights set on Dresden, they began their maneuvers to capture the city, and secure every vital piece of technology the corporation had developed. The fortified borders with the Czechoslovak and Polish territories came under fire, as security forces attempted to repel the oncoming invasions. It was not long until the West became aware of the invasion, but had decided against intervention, secretly hoping it would test the resilience of Wolfenchan ''against an adversary. THE OUTSKIRTS In the summer-upon-autumn of the same year, the fortified borders had been breached somewhat. A small opening had been made through the corporate defenses, and this prior weakness had an affect on the entire line itself. While security forces struggled to close the gap made by the Warsaw forces, others had opened, perpetually leaving the southern borders vacant, and letting the bulk of the armies through. For damage control once more, the hallucinogen compound (now adjusted, and fixed) was released to delay the advances of the Red Armies. Throughout the border towns, civilians had been evacuated to avoid collateral damage, and small patrols, composed of mechanized units, that would remain to harrass. The Soviets withdrew temporarily, due to machinery failures, and left the joint Czechoslovak-Polish armies to continue. With respirators delivered by air, the two continued their advance northwards towards Dresden itself. Aware that the hallucinogen tactic had failed, the corporate "army" braced for conflict in an urban environment, one not seen since the secure of Berlin a decade before. The outskirts of the city became recognized as the ''Ward, since it's location had become the near-centre of the industrial facilities for the entire region. Poised to defend their innovations and technology, Wolfenchan ''mounted a defense posting that covered roughly the entire width of the city's area. There would be no surrender at this point. The first contact between corporate, and Warsaw forces came in mid-September, when rocket artillery began to strike the first defenses, in an attempt to weaken the lines for a swift push by mechanized infantry. The bombardment continued for two days, in intervals of five hours. When the rockets ceased, the 1st Army of the Polish would begin their advances inwards, assuming that the corporate defense had been destroyed. The Czechoslovaks would remain on stand-by, with orders to back the Poles if the fighting became too brutal. By now, the Soviets had returned with a slightly larger force, after suffering mechanical issues in the initial advances past the Corporate frontier. The stage had been set for one of the largest conflicts the corporation would see. ORDER OF BATTLE The corporate defenses came under direct fire on the twenty-third. Polish forces had breached the outer city walls, and were making a seeming bee-line for the centre of Dresden. Russian mechanized were documented to be following behind, providing suppressive and covering fire against corporate fighters. The Czechoslovak armies were still in waiting at the edge of the city, not given a clear order whether to advance or not. The resulting miscommunication, or lack thereof, forced the staff in the field to make a hasty decision to enter the city. With Polish-Soviet forces moving closer to the fire-base set by corporate troops, the fighting began to grow more and more hostile. Areas of the city more closely-knit had taken affinity to hosting hand-to-hand combat between quick-reaction squads of both Warsaw and corporate forces, while the more mainstream roads leading into open areas became battlegrounds for armored vehicles of both sides. The wrecks of vehicles piled up next to one another, a graveyard forming from every carcass. The Czechoslovaks entered the city on the next day, only to discover they had never received orders to. The result had been an advance in disarray, and it proved fatal when corporate forces had surrounded them into a pocket near the factory complexes, forcing them into warehouses, and prompting a de-facto manhunt for any Czech troops left. The distress calls had been sent prior, when the first ambushes commenced, and had rerouted one of the Polish armies, along with a Soviet mechanized brigade to relieve them, only drawing more attention. The result became a battle known as the ''Fabrikschlacht, which evolved into possibly the bloodiest segment of the entire battle itself. A recorded estimate of around ~350 casualties had been put down and set for archive, and are still present to be read in Berlin. Fighting would continue on until 1961, when the final throes of the Red armies would be depleted, and forced to retire, prompting peace talks and negotiations. In the period between, however, through the entire year of 1960, more tactics were used, tackled, and adjusted to suit the situations presented in Dresden for the time. One of them being the entrance of chemical weaponry by Warsaw's forces, and the subsequent raids over civilian condensations. Blocks of houses would become damaged, but not to such a degree as the Allies had put it through during the Reich. Corporate executives ordered for citizens to be issued gas masks and protective hoods, and as the bombardments continued, they became less and less affecting. Rockets, however, continued to pummel the city in all sectors, and a brief cease-fire, mandated by the West, had asked Khruschev and other Warsaw commanders to cease the attacks on those not aligned with the corporate armed forces. AFTERMATH Negotiations began in the Spring of 1961, with delegates from the Warsaw nations participating, and those from the corporation. The meeting itself would be mediated in Liechtenstein, specifically, the capitol of Vaduz. There were little attempts to barter and trade land, and, albeit the Polish People's Republic had wanted to annex Silesia and Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the exchange would not be accepted. NATO had it's intention to set a buffer zone in Silesia, to prevent any further conflict, but Wolfenchan ''itself had decided against the potential, declaring that: ''"Silesia is within our premise, we will assess what must be done in the region, and how to do it." As of now, Dresden is peaceful. There were moments of tension, when it seemed as if the Warsaw Pact would attempt to invade once more, but the threats were never acted upon. However, multiple, Red cells have formed within the regions of Dresden, and most recently, in the now barren lands of Silesia, depraved of nutrient since the incidents of the Third Grain Zone.